Sid Rosenberg: Hypocrisy in the NFL knows no bounds

Sid Rosenberg

Sid Rosenberg is co-host of 'The Bernie and Sid Show' on WABC 77 in New York City.

This past Sunday, Jets fans honored the memory of those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

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When will the hypocrisy stop? Roger Goodell needs to take a look at some of the policies the NFL has in regards to what players are and are not allowed to do on the field when it comes to expressing their personal and political views.

Two weeks ago I expressed my frustration with pathetic San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his protest of the National Anthem and for wearing socks that portrayed cops as pigs. Though Kaepernick did not wear those socks in an actual game, I believe he should have been reprimanded for his disgusting gesture. It is an absolute disgrace to think that a grown man who has been granted the opportunity to express his views to a mass audience would do so in this manner.

Kaepernick’s wearing of those socks and then refusing to honor the National Anthem is abhorrent and hypocritical, yet both of these actions went un-penalized by the NFL. If the NFL and Roger Goodell think that it’s OK for players to exercise their First Amendment rights they need to understand that the standard goes both ways.

I think it is clearly understood that Kaepernick and any other player, for that matter, has the right to sit during the National Anthem, but an issue arises when players use other gestures to express themselves and are subsequently penalized.

What has me frustrated and puzzled now is that when the NFL kicked off this past Sunday on Sept. 11- players who decided to wear 9/11 memorial cleats were subject to fines for breaking the league's uniform policy. If a player is allowed to express his controversial political views on the field without being fined then why in the world should players be fined for memorializing a national tragedy expressed through footwear? Even more, why should players be penalized for expressing themselves through any form of fashion?

There are multiple examples of when NFL players chose to express their views for an issue by wearing cleats that went against the NFL’s uniform policy. In 2004, Clinton Portis and the now-deceased Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins were each fined $15,000 for wearing red socks instead of white socks, even though the red socks aligned with the team's uniform. During a game in 2013, then-Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall wore lime green colored cleats to honor National Mental Health Awareness month and was fined $5,250. In the 2012 NFC Championship game, San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore was fined $10,500 for wearing his socks too low. Yes, that is correct, he was fined for wearing his socks too low.

This double standard is an example of how the United States has given in to political correctness and has created a safe-space environment that is a one-way street. American citizens have become far too soft, and it has created an environment in this country that is getting further and further away from reality.